Money in Bolivia

The currency is the boliviano. That is worth stating plainly, because three countries this guide sits alongside in the region use the United States dollar as their own currency and Bolivia does not. Prices are quoted in bolivianos and that is what you will spend.

No exchange rate appears on this page. A rate printed on a travel guide is stale by the time anyone reads it, and the honest thing is to tell you to check it on the day with your own bank.

Cash matters more here than you expect

In La Paz, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Cochabamba, a card will pay for a hotel, a mid range restaurant and a supermarket. Almost everywhere else, and almost everything else, is cash. Markets, buses, shared taxis, small guesthouses, entrance fees, the ferry across the Strait of Tiquina, most of a Salar tour once it has started: cash.

Plan on carrying more physical money than you would in most countries, and on splitting it between more than one place on your person and in your bag.

⚠ Small notes are the real currency

The practical problem in Bolivia is not getting money, it is breaking it. Cash machines dispense large notes, and a market stall, a taxi or a rural bus frequently cannot change one. Visitors lose a surprising amount of time to this.

Break large notes wherever there is a till that can take them, which usually means a supermarket, a pharmacy or a petrol station, and keep a working float of small notes and coins for everything else. Ask for change in small denominations when you do.

Cash machines

• They are common in cities, scarcer in small towns, and should not be assumed in villages or on the altiplano.
• Draw what you need for the stretch ahead while you are still somewhere that has them. A Salar trip or a run through the Chiquitos missions is not the moment to discover the nearest machine is hours away.
• Use machines inside a bank or a staffed building during opening hours where you can, and be aware of who is around you. The safety guidance this cluster cites is covered in the travel safety guide.
• Tell your bank you are traveling, and carry a second card kept separately from the first.

Changing money

Licensed exchange houses in the cities handle US dollars and neighboring currencies. Bring notes that are clean and unmarked: worn, torn or heavily written on notes are frequently refused, which is a rule applied more strictly here than many travelers are used to.

Tipping and bargaining

Tipping is modest and not obligatory. Rounding up a restaurant bill or leaving around ten percent for good service in a sit down restaurant is normal in cities. Guides and drivers on a multi day trip are usually tipped, and if you are traveling with a group it is worth agreeing in advance what the group will do so that nobody is left guessing.

In markets, some polite negotiation is expected on crafts and textiles and is not expected on food. Do it good humoredly and remember what is actually at stake on either side.

For what things cost to move between towns, see the local transportation guide.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Bolivia travel advice: the index to the entry, safety, regional and health pages this cluster draws on, the advice against all but essential travel to the Chapare region of Cochabamba Department, the State of Emergency under which police and armed forces may detain a person who does not comply for up to eight hours without charge, and the standing guidance that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 17 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Bolivia safety and security: the crime picture, the guidance on protests and roadblocks and the instruction not to try to cross one, and the standing guidance that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 17 September 2026.